Smith, Jonathan A. (1991) Conceiving selves: a case study of changing identities during the transition to motherhood. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 10 (4), pp. 225-243. ISSN 0261-927X.
Abstract
This qualitative study follows one woman through her pregnancy and transition to motherhood, and is concerned with the changes which occur in her accounts of identity. The study has a dual focus: on the changing identity of the woman herself as she becomes a mother, and on the simultaneous construction of an identity for the growing foetus. The complex and ambiguous nature of the process is highlighted, for example, in the woman's move towards self-containment as well as engagement with key others. Consistent with a phenomenological approach, the woman's account is prioritised in the study. Only after a close reading of her account is the material theorised in relation to the existing literature, particularly Mead's notion of a symbiotic or relational self. Finally a deconstructionist reading of some of the material in the case is provided.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Mar 2020 14:23 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:58 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/31251 |
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